J/Boats Tackle Vancouver Island
Once again sailors are showing that the Pacific Northwest is J/Boat country by taking 1st or 2nd in all three classes in the 2017 Van Isle 360. Thirty keelboats participated in this year’s race, of which seven of them are J/teams (23% of the fleet!).The conditions for this year’s event covered almost the full spectrum of the Beufort scale with beautiful summer winds up the inside of the island while crossing tacks with the Race to Alaska teams followed by winds kissing 40 knots from Telegraph Cove to Port Hardy with big rolling waves, smooth sailing over the Nahwitti Bar and around Cape Scott to Winter Harbor followed by a brutal 138 mile slog to Ucluelet with waves approaching 12′ and 30+ knot winds and then a beautiful run down the straits to Victoria followed by the most challenging leg of the race – Victoria to Nanaimo with its plethora of navigational choices, currents and light wind conditions. The Van Isle 360 race course is one of the most varied and challenging courses you’ll ever compete on.
Sailing under the Offshore Racing Congress Rule (ORC) class 1 was taken by the beautiful teak decked J/122E Joy Ride owned by John Murkowski. Joy Ride is a 2015 model of J Boats Elegant J/122 and the ride around the island must have been in style with her comfortable two head two cabin layout. (https://www.facebook.com/joyridesailing)
Class 2 was taken by the J/109 Mojo owned by Mark Hansen. Based out of Vancouver, British Columbia these Canadians took this performance cruiser – arguably one of the most capable performance cruisers ever built – around Vancouver Island and through consistent sailing took the overall win by 4 points over the second place boat. (https://www.facebook.com/J109Mojo/)
Congratulations to the Van Isle 360 J/Boat teams! I’m sure you had an experience of a lifetime and showed us all that manageability and comfort can go hand and hand with performance and will put you on the podium.